The time has come to watch the Unicron trilogyy! Beast Machines was becoming very tedious.

Now, do I watch the Western or Japanese versions? I've heard the Japanese versions are better. What are the equivalents? I know Galaxy Force is one of them, but which? Does it matter what order I watch them in? How are the Japanese versions better? Just the writing as it's subs vs dubs, or is it edited differently to tell a different story?

While I do intend to watch RiD, or Car Robots (I'd rather watch English versions for ease of watching, but if the Japanese versions are widely accepted as better, I might as well watch them), I get the impression that the bad guys are a bunch of bumbling idiots who just fail at life.

Although, it would be better to start off early in the various series of TF.

Armada is so-and-so. It would have been great if it didn't have annoying human kids.

Energon absolutely sucked. I'm sorry, it just does. I only watched part of the series, and have not yet finished watching it, because it was just THAT BAD.

Cybertron is the only show that I actually liked. I see it as being its own continuity, as it does not quite fit in with what had happened in Armada and Energon for Cybertron to be called the third part of the Unicron Trilogy.

I'm not quite sure how you'll manage to watch all three of these shows in the original Japanese, but if you feel like watching the Unicron Trilogy -- in English, which are much more easier to attain -- then feel free to do so, just so that you can say that you have seen them.

You'd be lucky if you could even FIND Micron Legend - it's never been subbed. So you're just sort of stuck with Armada.

For the second show, go with Super Link. The show is terrible in either language, but Energon is very badly mangled, and Super Link at least has dialogue that makes sense.

Third, I say go for Cybertron. It's a little bit different from Galaxy Force (not nearly as much as you'll find people claim), but that is the result of a CONSCIOUS effort to modify aspects of the show and real EFFORT goes into making the scripts work, whereas Armada and Energon's changes were genuine, shameful screw-ups that resulted from the rushed nature of the dub. It's dialogue is more entertaining than Galaxy Force, getting across a lot more character than the typically stoic Japanese characterization the Autobots usually receive and offering up many genuine laughs. And where Galaxy Force tends to hand-wave things away with magical "Burning Justice", Cybertron offers technical explanations. Cybertron's weakness is a really bad first episode that splices together the first two episodes of Galaxy Force, but once you get past that it as good as Galaxy Force, or in my opinion, better. But I'm sure most people will tell you to watch Galaxy Force.

I personally watched Galaxy Force, though I also find Cybertron to be quite entertaining. Watch either one, though I agree with Chris' points on Cybertron.

Armada is no where near as bad as it is made out to be. It's a bit slow starting, but it starts to pick up from episode 13, and it hits a stride from episode 25 onwards. The final 12 episode arc is amazing, and episode 39 has some awesome scenes. The finale is incredible.

Energon / Super Link, I never cared for the show much after the midway point. It really "jumps the shark" after episode 26. Up until then it is decent in either language, though the US dub has some real "what the heck???" moments.

Ultimately I'd say go with the US versions of all three shows, as they're all legally available on DVD as full series sets. Might be a little hard to track down now, but they should still be out there.

As has been said, you won't be able to get Micron Legend. Armada really isn't that bad, the final 13 episodes are awesome IMO, and the build-up in the prior episodes is worth the pay-off. What lets it down are the first 13 episodes, concentrating on finding the Mini-cons. It gets a bit tedious but it's worth it.

And that does help, I'm finding. I've been watching Superlink, starting at episode 20, because I did, and I'm finding some good things in it. I really like how Kicker's encounter with AQ plays out, for instance, and Laserwave is a more threatening character.

Of course, there are things that aren't so good, like when Arcee's introduction made my brain hurt, but on the whole, it's pretty watchable.

Energon had potential to be a fun (if weird) show if it had been treated more like Cybertron was. All IMNSHO, of course.

And that does help, I'm finding. I've been watching Superlink, starting at episode 20, because I did, and I'm finding some good things in it. I really like how Kicker's encounter with AQ plays out, for instance, and Laserwave is a more threatening character.

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Aw, yeah, the whole "child within Alpha Q" works a lot better than what Energon did, with that "voice of all who were lost" shtick - and that was one of the few times that Energon clearly decided to *actively change* a plot point, rather than just make a mistake with it!

Of course, it does nothing to offset the fact that whatever is inside Alpha Q, it gets mentioned once more, and like pretty much everything in Energon that threatens to be interesting, is then dropped like a hot poop.

Armada is bad, really bad. Add to the fact that you can't find subs for Micron Legend [sadly], the only alternative is to watch the horrendous US version which is a fest of badly matching animation thrown together and not so good dubbing.

I watched about 5 Energon episodes before switching to Superlink. Superlink is by far the most serious of the three series. It features Autobots that pass along as villains at first [Rodimus' group], a villain you actually feel for at first [Galvatron], a villain\rogue that just steals the show [Megazarak] and grim situations not met in preceding TF shows [the entire E20-26 or so saga].

Galaxy Force was much more childlike and more "Brave"-esque, where themes of friendship and absolute courage [whatever BS that is] prevail all evil. Although the show has the best Megatron\Starscream duo, the autobots and all other Decepticons suck in comparison. Nice ending fight between Convoy and Galvatron, nice fights in e26 but that's it. The dub is even more horrendous and child-like as it tries to lump everything into the continuity of the previous shows, practically presses RESET on established characters in that manner, and so on.